View a presentation given at the Our America’s Rural Opportunity forum about the context of public lands and the rural west.
Montana
Building for Wildfire Summit: Understanding How Homes Burn
Video and highlights from an event that brought together diverse community leaders to explore practices for building fire-adapted communities.
Newsletter: September 2019
Our latest newsletter contains research on transit equity analysis for Denver, CO, funding needs for Montana’s outdoors, a custom socioeconomic tool for the US Fish & Wildlife Service, and more. Subscribe to our newsletter.
The Value of Montana’s Outdoors
Montana’s outdoors attracts people and talent, creating jobs and a high quality of life. The outdoors is essential to the state’s future economic growth.
Funding Needs for Montana’s Outdoor Heritage
Funding for Montana’s working lands, wildlife, and outdoor recreation is not keeping pace as population, visitation, and development pressures expand.
The Economic Impact of Outdoor Recreation and the Whitefish Trail in Whitefish, Montana
In Whitefish, Montana, outdoor recreation is the most important reason why residents stay and visitors come to the community. On the Whitefish Trail, 22,000 annual uses by visitors (30% of total use) generates $3.6 million in spending and supports 68 jobs.
Trail Usage and Value: A Helena, MT Case Study
In Helena, Montana, an 80-mile hiking and mountain biking trail system attracts more than 63,000 trail users during the summer. Seven in 10 users are residents, but visitors who use the trail system account for $4 million in spending, support 60 jobs, and generate $185,000 in state and local taxes.
Montana’s Outdoor Recreation Economy
A new report highlights the role of Montana’s outdoor recreation economy in spending, jobs, and economic diversification.
New Montana Homes Increase Wildfire Risks
The number of western Montana homes in areas with high wildfire hazard has doubled, outpacing development rates in areas with low wildfire hazard.
Economic Impact of National Parks
This interactive and background materials show visits, spending, and the number of jobs created in gateway communities for every National Park Service unit.
Gallatin County’s Economy, Growth, and Open Space
This report summarizes Gallatin County’s economy, how it has grown, and what is driving its performance. The report also describes how growth threatens open space and the role these lands play in local quality of life.
Measuring Whitefish Trail Use
Outdoor recreation and the economic impact of Whitefish Trail use in Whitefish, Montana.
Montana Losing Open Space
From 1990 to 2018, the number of single-family homes in Montana grew by more than 50 percent, and the popularity of large lots converted 1.3 million acres of undeveloped land to housing.
Montana Losing Open Space: Sortable Data
Review the different rates of home construction and loss of open space across Montana counties.
Benefits of a Frontage Path in Gallatin County, Montana
Updated: This report describes the benefits of a frontage path–a proposed paved, multi-use pathway connecting Belgrade and Bozeman along an approximately ten-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 10 in Gallatin County.
Planning Tools to Reduce Montana’s Wildfire Risk
County governments, fire districts and service areas, and landowners have many opportunities to reduce wildfire risk in the wildland-urban interface through land use planning tools and strategies, though challenges in Montana’s regulatory framework remain.
Montana’s Economy, Public Lands, and Competitive Advantage
This report summarizes Montana’s economy analyzing recent growth and what is driving its performance, including a description of how federal lands help attract people, investment, and businesses.
The Context and Status of Colstrip’s Coal-Fired Power Plant
A guide to planning for the long-term social, economic and environmental well-being of the community of Colstrip, Montana.
Rural Economic Development in Lincoln, Montana
Many rural western towns face economic uncertainty. This report—informed by interviews and public meetings with residents—compares Lincoln to peer communities and outlines rural economic development options building on the town’s strengths.
Planning for Montana’s Energy Transition
While Montana is likely to experience relatively small impacts, coal-dependent communities in Eastern Montana are likely to feel the acute effects of job losses and declining tax revenue in the coming decades.